Letters To The Editor

October 07, 2002

Societal Concerns

Are `God Stuff'

As I get older, I find some pride in naming some of the persons who have decided they are my enemies, for I find their opposition to my life and beliefs to be an affirmation that I have stood for something worth noticing. I wish I could say that about the criticisms of the United Church of Christ in Laurence D. Cohen's column ``Churches Lose Members When They Engage In Politics'' [Other Opinion, Oct. 3].

It is obvious from his words that Cohen is mistaken about the God we worship in the UCC, and the resultant lives we seek to live in response to that God.

Cohen makes it clear that the God he worships has no role in the everyday lives of human beings, to say nothing of any relevance faith in God might have regarding the decisions made by the governments and leaders of those human beings. He contrasts ``God stuff'' with concerns or criticism aimed at big business, labor unions, war, global warming, energy conservation, urban affairs, the earned income tax credit, wetlands protection and other issues that affect the lives of millions of people. I am not sure what relevance Cohen's ``God stuff'' might have to actual life, or how the issues he contrasts with ``God stuff'' are not spoken to by the ``traditional moral questions'' he thinks we in the UCC ought to ``get back to.''

In the UCC, we believe in, worship and seek to be responsive to the God of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Esther, Mary and Jesus, a God we recognize as Creator, who is still creating. Our Bible reminds us of The Good Samaritan ministries of providing basic needs. At the same time it demands of us a prophetic ministry of discerning, confronting and transforming the structures of societies which oppress and diminish people.

So, I am sad that Cohen thinks it proper to castigate an entire denomination for its forms of faithful witness, when he apparently knows nothing of the God we so fervently seek to obey.

The Rev. J. Richard Sherlock

Senior Minister

The First Church of Christ

in Hartford (Center Church)

A Different Kind Of Detainee

There are many disparities between the internments of Japanese-Americans during World War II and the present Justice Department crackdown of non-citizen Middle Easterners as discussed in Susan Campbell's column ``Prejudice Again Dictates U.S. Action'' [Life, Oct. 1]. None is more significant than the fact that a great majority of World War II detainees were loyal U.S. citizens. The majority population of those detained by the Justice Department are not U.S. citizens and are being held on immigration violations caused by their illegal status in the United States.

Of the hundreds reportedly being held by U.S. authorities with alleged terrorist connections, it is reported that only three are U.S. citizens.

Of the detainees being held in Cuba, not one is a U.S. citizen.

Without making a distinction of American citizenship and loyalties, the column undermined the great injustice and severity of injury caused to law-abiding and patriotic U.S. citizens of Japanese, Italian and German heritage detained during World War II.

It was never proved that any of them were other than law-abiding citizens, or that they acted in any way to threaten or harm this country during a time of war. It is not the same situation we see happening today to non-U.S. citizens who have violated our immigration policies and others who have actively engaged, or possibly plan to engage in hostile actions against American interests.

Donald J. Barrett Jr.

Waterbury

10 Reasons

For Mistrust

I thank The Courant for printing the ``10 Reasons To Trust Bush On Iraq'' [Commentary, Sept. 29]. I never laughed so hard in my life. Especially when I got to No.1: ``Honorable men don't go to war for selfish motives.''

I decided to come up with my own top-10 list:

10. Bush will send the message to the United Nations: ``Don't mess with Texas,'' er, make that: ``Don't mess with the United States.''

9. We will see once and for all how useless the Crusader artillery unit is.

8. George W. will be able to get back at Saddam Hussein for threatening his father.

7. Condoleezza Rice's former employer, Chevron, will surely benefit.

6. The war will distract everyone from the failing economy.

5. The almost certain resultant increase in terrorism in the United States will allow Bush to remove even more of our freedoms with measures like the Patriot Act, silencing dissenters in the process.

4. The military contractor Carlyle Group, whose senior advisers have included George H. W. Bush and James Baker, will make billions of dollars.

3. Dick Cheney will get a first-hand look at the pumps, manufactured by Dresser Industries, which were sold to Iraq in 1997. Dresser is a subsidiary of Halliburton, and Dick Cheney was CEO at the time of the sale.

2. The sooner the war starts, the sooner George W. can stop worrying about having to produce nonexistent evidence.